Use dd to image a disk

“dd” is the linux command for taking byte by byte copies of files. Since a hard disk behaves sort of like a big file in linux, we can use “dd” to take a copy or image.

It is a good idea to zero all free space on the original disk before taking the image. This will make the empty space easier to compress. So if possible, mount the original disk, cd onto it and run the following commands to create file to fill the remaining hard disk space with zeros, you can then delete the file.

Continue reading Use dd to image a disk

Winter Driving

Never too early to start thinking about how to drive!

I had linked to this BestRide article back in Oct, 2016 on my old site. Now it seems that the link is dead as so often happens, and in this case the information is important enough to resurrect and host here.

This is one of the very best guides to winter driving I’ve ever read. Accurately delivered in an intelligent voice and yet short enough that even the average American should be able to focus long enough to take it all in. Kudos to Wyatt Knox!

Blogosaur | Audio Edition, Music, VST & Wavosaur 4 all the people !

Wavosaur has been around forever and is a great tool from the days before.  Small, full of features, and if you can believe it, still being updated!  Give it a look if you wish.

Source: Blogosaur | Audio Edition, Music, VST & Wavosaur 4 all the people !

Gmvault: gmail backup

Have not used this yet, but it looks super promising as a way to backup Gmail accounts.

Source: Gmvault: gmail backup

The Known Ferengi Rules of Acquisition

This is what the internet is for.

Taken from MemoryBeta

Continue reading The Known Ferengi Rules of Acquisition

Run Commands in Windows

Here’s a partial list of Run commands used to execute programs in Windows. Once you memorize them, it can be easier to type the executable then to navigate Windows. Note that you can run most of these in the Run prompt or the Command Prompt or PowerShell.

To open Run, press the Windows + R keys on the keyboard or right-click Start and select Run. Don’t forget, the Search option works pretty well too!

I omitted .exe extensions, and will be adding to the list as time goes on. Please let me know if there are any typos. Bookmark this page.

Run Commands

ProgramCommand
About Windowswinver
Administrative Toolscontrol admintools
Calculatorcalc
Certificate ManagerCertmgr.msc
Character MapCharmap
Command Promptcmd
Computer Managementcompmgmt.msc
Credential ManagerControl /name Microsoft.CredentialManager
Date and TimeTimedate.cpl
Device Managerdevmgmt.msc
DirectX Diagnostic Tooldxdiag
Disk Cleanupcleanmgr
Disk Managementdiskmgmt.msc
Event Viewereventvwr
File Explorer/Windows ExplorerExplorer (Windows + E)
Folder Options (also known as File Explorer Options)Control folders
Internet PropertiesInetcpl.cpl
Local Group Policy Editorgpedit.msc
Local Security Policysecpol.msc
Local Users and Groupslusrmgr.msc
MagnifierMagnify
Microsoft Management Consolemmc
Network ConnectionsNcpa.cpl
Optimize Drives/Disk Defragmenterdfrgui
Performance Monitorperfmon
PowerShellPowershell
PowerShell ISE 5.1Powershell_ise Or type “ise” from the PowerShell!
PowerShell Core 6 and higher (if installed)pwsh
Print Managementprintmanagement.msc
Programs and FeaturesAppwiz.cpl
Registry Editorregedit
Remote Desktop Connectionmstsc
Resource Monitorresmon
Services console windowservices.msc
Sound (dialog box)Mmsys.cpl
System Configuration (msconfig)msconfig
System Informationmsinfo32 (Ctrl + Alt + F1)
System Properties dialog boxsysdm.cpl  
System Restore propertiessystempropertiesprotection
System windowcontrol system (Windows + Break)
Task Managertaskmgr (Ctrl + Shift + Esc)
Task Schedulertaskschd.msc
Windows Defender Firewallfirewall.cpl
Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Securitywf.msc
Windows FeaturesoptionalFeatures
Windows Memory DiagnosticsMdsched

Welcome to BrainlessIdeas

Congratulations, I’ve done no page ranking, have paid google nothing, did not answer the door when bing rang, and ignored their wailing begging from my porch, eventually getting a PFA from them, and yet here you are.

This is my site of collected links and data I’ve deemed too important (to me) to trust to the originator to keep available. The site itself has risen from the ashes of a not-backed-up-free-hosting account that actually survived for over a decade. There is a lot to wayback through, so for some time you will see both fresh and ancient content added in a truly random fashion. Go ahead, base your RNG on it. Ok, maybe don’t.

Don’t forget about this one, Craig:
Arcade

Play-a-Way

This is my links page for the Play-a-Way project.

Grow up in happy valley? Yeah, me too.

Continue reading Play-a-Way

Thunderbird and Gmail | Thunderbird Help

Been having trouble checking Gmail with Thunderbird?

Here’s why:

Source: Thunderbird and Gmail | Thunderbird Help

NASA’s James Webb telescope gets hit by a micrometeroid

The entire team responsible for this fiasco (the Webb telescope) should be fired from Government work. I give this boondoggle less than 5 years.  Way to throw a ton of money away and further pollute our atmosphere for the interests of a very few. Such promise; inexcusably poor execution.

Lee Feinberg, Webb optical telescope element manager at NASA Goddard, said: “With Webb’s mirrors exposed to space, we expected that occasional micrometeoroid impacts would gracefully degrade telescope performance over time. Since launch, we have had four smaller measurable micrometeoroid strikes that were consistent with expectations and this one more recently that is larger than our degradation predictions assumed. We will use this flight data to update our analysis of performance over time and also develop operational approaches to assure we maximize the imaging performance of Webb to the best extent possible for many years to come.”

Source: NASA’s James Webb telescope gets hit by a micrometeroid | Engadget

Play-A-Way 

Gonna build something!

Here are some links:

Cabinet Graphics:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/293726721574

https://www.ebay.com/itm/265402555295

https://www.ebay.com/itm/393949607718

https://www.ebay.com/itm/393898879918

https://www.ebay.com/itm/164609038746

Kit:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/112406259222

https://www.ebay.com/itm/394076008450

This PC can’t run Windows 11 – Bypass/Fix

Ali posted a way to easily bypass Windows 11 install checks. Just like he said, I’m installing 11 as a Hyper-V machine on my Windows 10 box. My hardware is 11 compatible. I’m installing using Gen 2.

Whats up Microsoft? Thanks for giving me the reason to find this method.

Source: This PC can’t run Windows 11 – Bypass/Fix – ALI TAJRAN

UPDATE: This no longer seems to work.  If you have a method compatible with 21H1+, please comment below.

Fix BSOD 0x0000007B on virtualized Win7 (and Server 2008)

Ran into this problem when I P2V’d my main Win7 box.  It had a broken Intel (software) raid on it (Raid1 with the second drive missing). I don’t know if this is why it was bluescreening, as I had used the heck out of this box for many years and it had every driver under the sun on it, but still, it was the obvious condition.

Basically, you have to start the VM in recovery mode, open a command prompt and run regedit.  Modifiy a few values to start some drivers and you should be good to go.ystem image from a backup or migrate a physical host into the virtualization environment (P2V), the BSOD with error 0x0000007B can appear at the first time you boot Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7.

I was getting a STOP: 0x0000007B code (it was hard to see this as when VM’d, bluescreens only show for a fraction of a second.

This stop code corresponds to the INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE error and is related to the difference of the hard disk controller of a new server (a computer or a virtual machine) from the original equipment. When booting, the driver necessary to boot from the new controller is not loaded. Windows cannot be started due to it.

In the debug mode you can see that Windows boot stops at the stage of loading the CLASSPNP.SYS driver.

To fix the error 0x0000007B, you need to boot from any Windows installation media (with Windows 7 / 2008 R2 or higher) or a boot disk (for example, DART). Or using the recovery console (this can be added to the image if you use StarWind Converter

In the Registry Editor window, go to the registry hive HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and select File -> Load Hive. On the local server drive (don’t confuse it with the WinPE disk), select the file \Windows\System32\config\SYSTEM. This file stores the system part of the registry your local Windows copy.

In the loaded hive, go to registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\local_hkey\ControlSet001\services\.

Find these registry keys:

  • Atapi;
  • Intelide;
  • LSI_SAS.

Find REG_DWORD parameters with the name Start in each of these keys and change their values to 0 (0x00000000).

If you had switched your SATA controller mode to AHCI before this error appeared, you should also set Start = 0 in the msahci section.Note. The Start=0 value means that the service will start at Windows startup. Start=3 means that the service will be started manually.

To save the changes in the local registry file on the disk, go to the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\local_hkey and select Unload Hive in the menu.

Source: http://woshub.com/bsod-error-0x0000007b-boot-windows-7-2008-r2/

UPDATE:
So I tried this again, after getting it to work, but without having pre-installed Hyper-V Integration Tools (note, I should have simply burnt the tools to a iso and mounted that inside the VM, then installed as described in another post). I decided to wipe out the VM after getting it to work with the above process – space constraints kept me from keeping a copy of the working VM… (mistake #1).

I was not able to get this process to work after multiple attempts the second time around. The same system, with no changes, and I tried both Disk2VHD and StarWind. Every time regedit would error with not being able to load the hive after I entered the key. I even attempted to mount the .vhdx in Windows 10, and regedit it directly as a mounted drive (seems a easier method than using recovery console). Tried copying the backup system hive… Tried everything I could think of. I am at a loss for why this did not work as it did before.

So I went with the more risky proposition of editing the registry of the actual Windows 7 box that I was virtualizing. A simple change of Intelide to 0 (auto start), did the trick. Hours wasted sure, but I think it is always better to try to not modify the source material if possible.

How to manually install Integration Tools on a Hyper-V Virtual Machine

TLDR; Before you make the image!

Moving Win7 boxes to VM’s during decommissioning is a practical way to keep access to old systems. You can fire them back up when needed and access old data and applications safely. Even if migrating from one OS to another, making a VM is a easy preventative.

Windows 7 & 8 did not come with Hyper-V Integration Tools included (Windows 10 got these in a update some time back), so we will install these tools before we virtualize the system (much easier this way!).

First, grab the corresponding .cab file from MS : https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3063109
[Local copies here]

Move these files to the machine to be virtualized, and open a elevated power shell.

We need to set a variable to the path of the .cab file:

$integrationServicesCabPath="C:\Downloads\windows6.2-hypervintegrationservices-x86.cab"

Then we can install the tools:

Add-WindowsPackage -Online -PackagePath $integrationServicesCabPath

On some Windows 7 versions, PowerShell does not have this option. In this case, we can use DISM.
Open a elevated command prompt and enter:

dism /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath:"path/to/file.cab" [replace with path]

Now make your image; I recommend using StarWindConverter and including recovery tools.